


Five and the Storm

by Spina_Runner_51



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: #Season 1, 5am, F/M, No Spoilers, sifi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28583634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spina_Runner_51/pseuds/Spina_Runner_51
Summary: Five, Simon, and Jody are returning from a mission when a lighting storm hits, stranding them some distance from Abel. As it turns out, the lighting brings out an unexpected side to Five's personality.Unexpected for Simon, at least.
Relationships: Runner Five/Sam Yao, Simon Lauchlan/Runner Five
Kudos: 16





	Five and the Storm

The sky had been darkening for a while now, and all three of them were watching it with concern. Still four more kilometers to go till they were back in Abel— not far, but it would be far enough, if the storm broke.  
Jody was especially nervous. “I don’t like storms,” she said. Her Liverpool accent turned her inflections up at the end, making every statement sound like a question. “The lightning scares me.”  
Simon wasn't exactly thrilled about the situation himself, or the fact that Sam had sent them out into the field so far, with the possibility of a storm coming. Yes, the mission had been worthwhile and kind of genius—who would have thought of looking in the gift shop of a fancy hotel for medical supplies?— and they’d also been able to do quite a bit of scouting, the three of them. Unfortunately it had also left a long run back to Abel, with the weather turning nasty.  
Simon minded nasty weather for two reasons: first, he didn’t much like the idea of getting wet and cold, especially without any body glide handy. Nothing chafes a runner like wet clothing. Second, a storm meant a lack of visibility: it made it harder to see zombies coming, in the darkness and the rain, and there was always the chance that electrical charges could short out the radios or the scanners, which would strand the three of them with few defenses and out in the open. All of which left him feeling very nervous.  
Not that he was about to let the others know. Better to seem brave and untouchable and amused by it all. It was kind of his schtik.  
“Aw, Jody,” he said, chummily. “Don’t worry. You’re far too short to ever be a target. The lightning will just go right over your head and hit something taller. Like a road sign. Or a trash can.”  
Jody swerved close enough to Simon punch him in the arm. He nearly dodged it. But she caught him on the bicep with one pointy, tiny little knuckle, and it stung.  
“You’re right, Three,” she said. “Got to make sure I just keep near you, and I’ll never be in danger from lighting.” She eyed him balefully. “Because you’re a bloody great towering monster.”  
He smiled sweetly at her. “Aw, thank you for noticing, Jodes,” he said.  
Jody stuck her tongue out at him.  
“I always liked storms when I was a kid,” said Sam, over the headset. “I liked to sit by the window and watch the lightning and pretend that I was a sea captain battling with the gods of the ocean… or something,” he said. Then he cleared his throat. “I mean, only when I was a kid, obviously. Not like, recently, or anything.”  
Simon snorted and glanced at Five. She was running a bit behind him, on the right. She was keeping quiet, as usual, though he could tell that she was following the conversation. She had that fond little smile on her face she only got when she was listening to Sam. For some reason that smile annoyed Simon intensely, and had been annoying him more and more since he noticed it on their first run together, about a month ago.  
“Well, that’s just adorable, Sam,” he said in his smarmiest voice. “But it’s a whole lot nicer watching a storm from a nice, dry, cozy room than it is being out in one, and from the looks of things that’s exactly what’s going to happen to us in a few minutes.”  
Sam made an irritated noise. “Oh, yeah, so cozy in this tin shack, I just might take off the three layers of clothes I’m wearing to keep from shivering.”  
Five’s eyebrows shot up her forehead, and Simon was preparing something to say to tease Five about Sam taking his clothes off, when there was a flash in the clouds that lit up the sky, and deafening crack of thunder. Simon’s heart did a little flop.  
“God, I heard that!” said Sam. “Was that thunder? It shook the whole damn comms shack!”  
“No, Sam,” said Jody. She had veered to one side a bit, taking quick, nervous little steps as she looked up at the sky. “What you can hear is my heart pounding through the radio because I’m bleeding terrified! We’re in a field, out in the middle of a lighting storm! Just like the television told us never to do! Sam, just tell me there’s a place for us to hide round here.”  
Sam made a dubious noise. “I dunno, Jody, it would really be better if you just came back to Abel. It’s getting dark and I don’t want you to get stuck out there overnight.”  
There was another flash in the sky, and following that, another massive boom. Then the patter of rain began, softly at first, but quickly gathering in intensity.  
“Sam…” growled Simon.  
Five swerved suddenly in front of him, holding up a hand. She pointed at something above the trees, on their right. Simon squinted and saw it for himself: an outline against the swiftly darkening sky. A chimney.  
Jody whooped. She must have seen it too. “Sam, Five just found a house! I’m heading for it!”  
“But, but we don’t know if anyone’s in there,” said Sam, his voice tight with worry.  
Fat drops of water hit the ground in front of Simon, one plonking him directly in the eye. He wiped the water away with a grimace. “If there is, whoever it is had better be happy to see us, because we’re coming in either way,” he said.  
Jody had already turned toward the house, her head scanning from side to side as she sped along in front of them. Five and Simon followed.

The house, when they were close enough to see it better through the trees, revealed itself to be in poor shape. It had been boarded up at some point in its history, but it was difficult to tell how long ago; whether it had happened before or after Z-day. Many of the nailed-up boards were rotting away or fallen, scattered at the feet of the windows. However, the fact that the boards were outside the house, rather than inside, made Simon think it had been abandoned long before zombies were a concern, which was, possibly, a good thing. It meant it was less likely for them to discover the original inhabitants inside, whether alive or dead. And conveniently, it did make it very easy to pull the boards off and open the door. It just didn’t bode well in terms of defensibility, or the prospects of the house being water-tight.  
Jody went inside first, her bow in her hand, tensed and ready for a fight, and Simon followed. Five stayed outside, keeping under the half-rotted awning above the porch, and watched to see if they’d collected any followers on the way.

* * *

The rain picked up, as did the wind. Five unzipped her coat and let the cold cut through her shirt. She’d cooled off quickly from the run and was shivering after only a minute or so, but it felt good. It felt alive.  
“Everything all right, Five?” asked Sam. He sounded a little worried, which wasn’t at all unusual. “You see anything out there? There’s nothing on scanners, but with the storm…”  
Five made an ‘all okay’ sign, then remembered that there were no cameras for Sam in that location.  
“I’m good, Sam,” she said. “I don’t see anything either, just watching the storm.”  
“Hmm,” he said. “Did you like storms, when you were a kid?” Then, in a tone of friendly teasing, “Or are you scared of them, like Jody?”  
Jody’s voice cut in over the radio. “I’m not scared, I just don’t want to be soaked by freezing rain and hit by lighting!”  
Sam and Five both laughed.  
“Right, right, Jody,” said Sam. “We’ll all work on forgetting what you said a few minutes ago.”  
Then Simon’s headset clicked in. “All clear. Me and Four checked the house. It’s drafty and wet and several rotted boards on the stairs are eyeing me with evil intentions in their hearts, but no zoms.”  
Sam sighed with relief. “That’s great, Three. Buuut…” he said, drawing out the word, “I really don’t like the idea of you staying in there after dark. We have no idea what could wander by and my coverage isn’t great.”  
“We’ll just warm up here first for a minute, and then we’ll see,” said Simon.  
Five heard footsteps behind her and turned to see him coming down the stairs again, very gingerly, one hand pressed against the wall and the other on the banister. He reached the bottom with a look of relief, then stopped behind her, just inside the door, and wrapped his arms around himself. He was only wearing a thin t-shirt and running shorts, and he must have been cold. As far as she could tell, it would take nothing less than a snowstorm to get Simon to put on a coat.  
“Come inside and close the door, Five,” he said, and grinned. “You’re letting out the stifling damp!”  
There was another flash, lighting up Simon’s face in white, and a boom that made the house sway. Simon stumbled a bit, darting a nervous glance at the roof.  
Five rocked with the shaking of the house, like someone riding the deck of a ship, entirely at ease. She smiled at Simon. Her eyes were glittering. “Do you think I can get up onto the roof?” she asked.  
“What?”  
“Race you!” She darted past him and pelted up the stairs, vaulting over the ones Simon had avoided. Simon stared after her, open-mouthed, then shook his head and closed the door. After a thought, he slid a cabinet in front of it.

* * *

“You’re absolutely mad, you know,” Simon said, over the radio.  
“Why mad, who’s mad, what’s mad?” said Sam, instantly panicking.  
Simon chuckled. _Good old Sam,_ he thought. _Zero to anxiety attack in less than sixty seconds._ “Five. She just ran upstairs to see if she can get out on the roof.”  
“What? Why?”  
Five’s headset clicked on, but just then there was another giant crash of thunder that shook the house and turned the feed into static. Simon heard Five’s laughter, wild and delighted, coming from above him.  
When the static cleared, he could hear Sam calling for Five, his voice beginning to tour the upper registers.  
Five’s voice came in over the radio. “I’m fine, Sam!” she said. She sounded out of breath. “There’s a weathervane on top of the house, and I’m nowhere near taller than the roof! I'm just out here watching the lightning. It’s so beautiful!”  
“It is beautiful, isn’t it?” said Sam. His voice had changed again, to something low and confidential. Simon felt that though all of them could hear him, Sam was really only talking to Five. “I’ve just gotten up and I’m looking out through the door,” said Sam. “God, it’s really pouring, isn’t it? I can barely hear you guys over the rain pounding on the tin. And that last bit of thunder really rattled the whole shack.”  
“The house, too,” said Simon quietly, feeling as if he were interrupting.  
There was silence over the radio for a moment, as the three of them listened to the rain.  
“I’ll just be down here in the parlour,” said Jody abruptly, in an irritated voice, “rocking myself and panicking.”  
There was a startled noise from Sam. “Oh god, Jody,” said Sam. “How are you doing? I forgot about you! You okay?”  
“Well, I’m not usually this scared,” she said in a calmer voice, apparently somewhat mollified by even that amount of attention. “It’s not so bad if you’re at home, with walls that don’t have holes in them and don’t shake like this. But somehow knowing that there’s zombies just outside makes it all so much worse.”  
“I’m sorry,” said Sam. “Can I do anything for you? Like, tell you a story? How about my favorite one about being a sea captain and battling the fearsome kraken?”  
That was Simon’s cue to tune Sam out for a bit. He also decided he could leave off checking on Jody, since Sam seemed to be handling her emotional state. And besides, he wanted to see what Five was up to. He climbed the stairs one more time, putting most of his weight on the bannister, praying it would hold him one more time, while it groaned at him and wobbled threateningly.  
As he neared the top of the stairs he could feel a cold draught coming from somewhere, a draught that made him shiver and put more goosebumps on his arms. He hadn’t felt anything like this his first time upstairs, when he checked for zombs—then the air had been still and very, very close. Now the wind hit him full in the face. He paused a moment at the top landing, considering. It was strong enough to mean that somewhere, without a doubt, a window was open. Five. He followed the direction of the wind and it led him inside one of the bedrooms: an ugly little low-ceilinged square with curling faded wallpaper and a bare, rusted bed frame, partially dismantled, hulking in one corner. In the wall opposite the door a window was open, revealing an angled slope of roof, the corner of the chimney, and the tumultuous sky beyond. The window was rattling a bit, in the wind.  
Five was standing outside, silhouetted against the clouds, balancing on the wet roof tiles. She was gripping the chimney with one hand. Her face was tilted upwards and her other arm was outstretched, as if she was welcoming the rain outside, or perhaps as if she was getting ready to fly and hadn’t quite committed to both arms just yet.  
Simon moved quickly to the window, feeling a flash of worry. “Five?” he called, hoping the sound of his voice wouldn’t startle her and make her lose her footing.  
She turned toward him, her hand tightening on the chimney brick for balance. Her eyes narrowed, then she scrubbed water off her face with one hand and smiled.  
She scrambled back to the window and crouched on the ledge in front of him, holding onto the outside of the frame. Her hair was wet, water was pouring down her face, her shirt was soaked and clinging to her, and she was grinning like a madwoman. “Isn’t it fucking amazing?” she cried. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright.  
She must have turned off her microphone, because he heard her only through one ear, the one that wasn’t covered with a speaker. He found his throat feeling very tight, all of a sudden.  
Five threw her hands up in the air, as if she had scored a goal in a sporting event. “I fucking love storms!” she yelled.  
Simon took a step back, for a moment feeling as if she was going to leap out of the window and on top of him. He had never seen this side of Five before. She’d been rather quiet and withdrawn, ever since she first came to Abel. Hard to get a word out of, unless she was talking to Sam.  
There was a blast of wind and the windowsill shook again, and Five wobbled slightly. Simon took a step closer in, forgetting his concern, only wanting to be ready to catch her arm if she started to fall. But Five closed her eyes, rocking in the wind, as if she enjoyed it.  
“Five, should you maybe—come inside?” he asked, thinking, _Aren't I supposed to be the reckless one in this relationship?_  
Five opened her eyes and looked at him. Her face was delighted and manic and she whooped again, just as there was another crash of thunder. She jumped out of the windowsill and onto to the floor. She shook herself, spraying water everywhere, then pelted out of the room, shrieking. He heard her go thundering along the hallway and down the stairs, like a cat on a rampage.  
Simon was left looking dazedly after her. He sat heavily on the windowsill, right in the puddle of rainwater she had left behind her, and hardly even noticed.  
This new Runner Five was mad. Utterly, and completely bonkers. Insane. Totally unpredictable.  
And to his surprise, he suddenly found that he liked her rather a lot.


End file.
